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• lea
  lea

  noun

  a tract of open ground, especially grassland; meadow.
• Lea
  Lea

  noun

  Homer, 1876–1912, U.S. soldier and author: adviser 1911–12 to Sun Yat-sen in China.
• lea.
  lea.

  abbreviation

  league.
• LEA
  LEA

  abbreviation

  Local Education Authority

lea

¹ American  

[lee, ley] / li, leɪ /

Also ley

noun

1. a tract of open ground, especially grassland; meadow.

2. land used for a few years for pasture or for growing hay, then plowed over and replaced by another crop.

3. a crop of hay on tillable land.

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adjective

1. untilled; fallow.

lea ² American  

[lee] / li /

noun

1. a measure of yarn of varying quantity, for wool usually 80 yards (73 meters), cotton and silk 120 yards (110 meters), linen 300 yards (274 meters).

2. Textiles.

   1. a unit length used to ascertain the linear density of yarns.

   2. a count or number representing units of linear measure per pound in linen or cotton yarn.

      a 20-lea yarn.

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Lea ³ American  

[lee, lee-uh] / li, ˈli ə /

noun

1. Homer, 1876–1912, U.S. soldier and author: adviser 1911–12 to Sun Yat-sen in China.

2. a female given name, form of Leah or Lee.

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lea. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. league.

2. leather.

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lea ¹ British  

/ liː /

noun

1. poetic a meadow or field

2. land that has been sown with grass seed

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lea ² British  

/ liː /

noun

1. a unit for measuring lengths of yarn, usually taken as 80 yards for wool, 120 yards for cotton and silk, and 300 yards for linen

2. a measure of yarn expressed as the length per unit weight, usually the number of leas per pound

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LEA ³ British  

abbreviation

1. Local Education Authority

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Etymology

Origin of lea¹

before 900; Middle English lege, lei, Old English lēah; cognate with Old High German lōh, dialectal Dutch loo (as in Waterloo ), Latin lūcus

Origin of lea²

1350–1400; perhaps back formation from Middle English lese, variant of leash

Example Sentences

Harpenden Town Council said it released 200 water voles in the Upper River Lea, at Batford Springs, Hertfordshire.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

Last year, the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust returned 100 water voles to a stretch of the Upper River Lea, on the Ayot Estate, near Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire.

From BBC • Jun. 9, 2026

The latest detections included a calf in La Salle County, Texas, a goat in Gillespie County, Texas, and a dog in Lea County, New Mexico, following two earlier cases in Zavala County, Texas.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

The stakes are further raised by a love triangle involving Florence Vassy, the brilliant chess strategist played by Lea Michele.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

Besides, our music teacher, Miss Brown, was ancient, and her decrepit horse had to pull her gig three miles from Prairie Lea.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

Related Words

• farmland
• garden
• grassland
• green
• ground
• meadow
• pasture
• range
• terrain
• territory